Personal Information on Students Slip from Teacher’s PC onto Internet

Personal information relating to around 10,000 students slipped onto the net when a high school teacher in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, used file-sharing software on his computer that stored the records, the prefecture's board of education said on June 30, 2007.

According to assumptions, the information leaked due to a virus in file-swapping program from a computer located in the residence of the 43-year old teacher employed at Ichinomiya Technical Upper Secondary School.

The teacher said that apart from the students' information, his PC also had the list of ASDF (Association of Synchronous Data Formats) officers who retired from service. His mother had asked him to compile it. She was attached to the Self-Defense Forces, the board of education said, as reported by The Japan Times on July 1, 2007.

The board also reported that the divulged data included records on students of two different schools where the teacher worked. That comprised of 10-years records of 7,000 students from his current school and 5-years records of 7,545 students form his previous school. The information consisted of students' names, birth dates, parents' names and grades.

The exact number of students affected due to the leak is not known as some of the records were in duplicates, the board said. The leak consisted of around 14,600 pieces of information. Personal information relating to personnel of the Air Self -Defense Force's Gifu Air Base in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, was also leaked from the teacher's computer. The leaked data included rolls of retired staff and everything about the events that took place at the base.

The education board said the leaked information was actually internal data saved since the academic year 1994 at the Technical Upper Secondary School and a high school where the teacher had worked earlier. The information collected was for the purpose of assisting students in choosing their careers. Therefore, it included students' names, careers they wished, academic results, technical school and university entrance exam results, and character evaluations.

The Board said there were no reports of misuse of data so far. But it will apologize to students and their parents and will take action against the teacher.